Chapter 135
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------
Chapter 135
A figure appeared at a moment I had never anticipated.
I froze, my eyes widening in shock.
Why would Hailon appear in Lemil's memories?
And covered in blood at that....
As I carefully examined the scene unfolding before me, sudden understanding dawned.
'This isn't Lemil's memory.'
It was a memory left behind in this strange White Space.
It had been slumbering, tangled with the Fairy's power, and seemed to have awakened in response to my strength.
Thump, thump—my heart raced rapidly.
Feeling a dull ache spread across my chest, I gazed upon the youthful face of Hailon.
He appeared to be barely past his coming of age.
He looked younger than he did now.
Hailon stood in the center of the White Space.
Though he wore the Holy Knight uniform, it was so thoroughly soaked in crimson blood that no trace of its original pure white remained.
His silver hair, which had shimmered with a soft glow even in darkness, was now stained with blood and had taken on a sinister hue.
The bleeding hadn't stopped; even as Hailon stood motionless, the red deepened gradually.
"...."
His gaze, which had been fixed downward, slowly turned forward.
Beneath silver eyelashes, trembling blue eyes were revealed.
My heart sank.
Even knowing this was a fragment of a past already gone.
Even knowing I could do nothing but watch.
The moment I saw those eyes inscribed with pain, I wanted to rush toward him.
'Hailon!'
I called his name, but of course, no sound emerged.
In this place, I was a powerless spectator, unable to intervene in any way.
Hailon, standing upon the blue pattern, slowly opened his mouth.
"...I can do it."
The anguish woven into his voice felt unfamiliar.
He, who rarely revealed emotion to others, pleaded with someone.
"I will surely succeed. So...."
"Don't be stubborn, Hailon."
The voice cutting off Hailon's words was strangely familiar.
The moment I furrowed my brow, Hailon clenched his teeth.
Clang!
A sharp metallic sound echoed.
White chains stretched out in all directions.
As the chains filled the vast space densely, Hailon's face contorted in agony.
Blood gushed between the fingers of the hand he'd hastily clamped over his mouth.
A white bracelet adorned the trembling wrist.
It was the Chains of Condemnation, a sacred relic of the Holy Empire Hilderd.
The chain infused with holy power shone brilliantly white.
Yet the light flickered precariously, as though it might extinguish at any moment.
"...!"
Blood seeped through Hailon's uniform with a wet sound.
New wounds were opening across his body.
'Stop it! That idiot!'
Chesa stamped her feet in frustration.
His body was deteriorating from the excessive use of holy power.
He could have simply refused, but I couldn't fathom why he insisted on being so stubborn.
'Is he going to die like this?'
Even as my heart burned with anxiety, Hailon obstinately extended the chain further.
But ultimately, he could not endure.
The moment Hailon collapsed to the ground, the chain shattered like glass into countless fragments.
The scattered shards dissolved into light and vanished.
Despair was etched across Hailon's face.
He struggled to push himself upright, only to crumble again.
A cold command fell.
"Bring them in."
Eight people dressed in Holy Knight uniforms entered the chamber.
All appeared to be around Hailon's age.
Young knights who had only recently reached adulthood, still bearing the unmistakable marks of youth, each held a single short sword in a peculiar formation.
As Chesa carefully examined the knights, she recognized a familiar face among them.
'Daren...?'
It was Daren, Hailon's adjutant.
Unlike now, he wore no monocle, and the scar on his face that the glasses usually concealed was absent.
All the knights were trembling.
They could not hide their fear, and several had tears glistening in their eyes.
Yet they forced their legs to move, positioning themselves at the outermost edge of the blue pattern drawn on the floor.
Surrounded by the eight figures in a circle, Hailon gasped for breath.
His blue eyes met the gaze of each knight encircling him.
Every time Hailon's eyes met theirs, the knights, frozen with terror, forced themselves to offer pale smiles.
Daren moved his lips silently.
It's all right.
Yet the corners of his mouth, barely raised, trembled pitifully.
A voice fell like a death sentence.
"A sacrifice of the small for the great."
The Holy Knights simultaneously cut their own palms with the short swords in their hands.
As the spilled blood was absorbed into the pattern on the floor, an ominous sound—uuuung—resonated through the White Space.
Pure white holy power flowed from the eight Holy Knights.
The holy power was absorbed entirely into the patterns on the floor.
The blue patterns began to stain crimson.
The red hue spread slowly from the outermost edge inward, advancing toward Hailon, who stood at the very center of the pattern.
By the time the blue pattern had turned completely red.
With a dull thud, one of the eight Holy Knights collapsed limply.
The light vanished from her eyes.
The white holy power that had been flowing from her body disappeared as well.
From that moment onward, the Holy Knights fell like broken dolls, one after another with dull thuds.
Those who had fallen resembled nothing so much as withered logs of wood.
What their lifeless forms signified was unmistakable.
Death.
With each Holy Knight's life extinguished, the red glow of the pattern grew ever more vivid and distinct.
Hailon thrashed about desperately.
Weeping tears of blood, I tried to reject the holy power pouring down upon me.
But my already broken body could barely struggle at all.
All I could manage was to claw at the floor with my shattered nails.
Seven of the Holy Knights had ceased breathing.
The last remaining Holy Knight was Daren.
Just as Daren was closing her eyes, as if accepting her predetermined fate.
A blinding light erupted from Hailon's crouched form.
After the pure white light had passed, what appeared was....
Eight wings.
The moment Chesa beheld those wings, woven from nothing but radiant light, only a single phrase came to mind.
The proof of holiness.
Even the Fairy, branded as a heretic, held her breath at the sight so profoundly sacred.
In that moment of disbelief even as her eyes witnessed it, a man cried out and rushed forward.
"Ahhh!"
Though his face was far younger than it was now, I recognized him immediately.
It was Holy King Sianor.
He wept tears of joy as he gazed upon the wings sprouting from Hailon's back.
"At last, I can create a holy relic for myself."
He rolled up his sleeves and seized the wings.
Holy power swirled around his roughly clenched hand.
With his other hand, he caressed the wing joint, and then came a sickening sound accompanied by the stench of blood.
Crack.
He had torn the wing out.
Hailon's body, which had been sprawled motionless as if utterly exhausted, convulsed violently.
Sianor tore out the wings one by one while chanting prayers of praise to the divine.
Flesh was stripped away, and wings were ripped free.
The stench of blood constricted my throat, threatening to suffocate me.
'Hailon.'
I reached out desperately.
'Hailon...!'
I wanted to touch him.
I wanted to tear him away from that horrific moment immediately.
I wanted to rip Sianor to shreds.
But there was nothing I could do.
I could only watch as time slipped away.
Hailon, who had been delirious from agony, suddenly clenched his teeth.
His bloodshot eyes fixed forward.
Amid the sea of crimson, his azure eyes trembled as they searched the surroundings.
Upon confirming that Daren still lived, his rigid body relaxed ever so slightly.
"...."
Hailon's gaze sharpened.
He endured the excruciating torment.
Even as blood gushed from his mouth, he persevered.
And the moment Sianor tore out the final wing.
Pristine chains erupted in all directions.
"Aaaahhh!"
A scream burst from the Holy King's lips—he who had just been praising and rejoicing in his god.
I saw blood fountaining upward.
Both of the Holy King's arms had been severed.
The first condemnation of the Chains of Condemnation.
---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------